he had an economy in shambles that helped that argument. here's the latest nbc news/washington journal, marist poll. in the battleground states of north carolina, nevada, new hampshire. nevada, we should note, housing crisis at its worst there. unemployment at its worst there, voters are split, though, on who's better at handling the economy. we're starting to see the trend in other swing states as well. why is this? why are voters now saying, well, you know what, despite the last four years, i think the should be could be the guy who can turn this thing around. >> well, mitt romney never effectively, at least not yet, was able to articulate a way they could turn the economy around. we still have a couple debates. i still think 38 days before the election or something like that. but mitt romney didn't make that argument. and he didn't make it in those swing states. and that's because mitt romney played defense a lot of the first half of this year. whether it was in the primaries or in may, when the primary was finally over, and the obama ca